Kim Jong-un imposes lockdown on Kaesong, calling it a ‘critical situation’
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un convened an emergency politburo meeting after a person suspected of having Covid-19 returned from South Korea after illegally crossing the border this month, state media said on Sunday.
If confirmed, it would be the first case officially acknowledged by North Korean authorities, who have so far said the country has no confirmed cases of coronavirus.
Continue reading...Almost 600 North Korean ‘ghost ships’ have washed up on the coast of Japan in the past five years, some containing the corpses of their crew
“Dark fleets” of hundreds of Chinese vessels are fishing illegally in North Korean waters, according to a study, forcing displaced local fishermen to risk their lives in distant waters in unsafe boats, many of which are carried across rough seas to the coast of Japan.
In a report published on Wednesday in the journal Science Advances, Global Fishing Watch (GFW), says more than 900 vessels of Chinese origin fished illegally in the area in 2017, and 700 in 2018. Together it is estimated they caught more than 160,000 metric tonnes of squid, worth more than $440m (£346m).
Continue reading...Measures target individuals in Saudi Arabia, Russia, Myanmar and North Korea
The UK set itself on a diplomatic collision course with one of its key allies after introducing long-awaited sanctions against human rights abusers, including a close aide to the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, over the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.
Long-awaited UK government sanctions against human rights abusers, including a close aide to the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, over the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, have been unveiled by the foreign secretary.
Continue reading...Forty-nine individuals and organisations from four nations are accused of rights abuses
The UK foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, has announced sanctions against 49 individuals and organisations accused of human rights abuses from four different countries.
Continue reading...Kim Jong-un unexpectedly vetoes the idea to redeploy troops to the border amid rising tensions between the two countries
Kim Jong-un has suspended plans to increase military pressure on South Korea, in a surprise move that comes after weeks of mounting tensions on the peninsula.
The North Korean leader vetoed measures that are thought to have included the redeployment of troops neat the border between the two countries, apparently in retaliation for Seoul’s inability to prevent defector groups from sending propaganda leaflets into the North.
Continue reading...Regime creating piles of propaganda in retaliation for similar campaign from South amid worsening relations
North Korea is gearing up to send propaganda leaflets over its southern border, denouncing North Korean defectors and South Korea, its state media said on Saturday, the latest retaliation for leaflets from the South as bilateral tensions rise.
The North’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported: “The enraged people across the country are actively pushing forward with the preparations for launching a large-scale distribution of leaflets to pour the leaflets of punishment upon those in South Korea who are bereft of even elementary morality.”
Continue reading...Pyongyang news agency steps up war of words against Seoul as Kim Jong-un’s sister says South’s president has put his neck in ‘noose of US flunkyism’
North Korea has accused South Korea of behaving like a “mongrel dog” bent on confrontation in a state media report that explains the regime’s decision to blow up a liaison office – a move that has significantly raised tensions between the two countries.
A commentary carried by the state KCNA news agency said the South’s defence ministry was “bragging and bluffing, rattling the dialogue partner and stoking a confrontational atmosphere”, and warned that Tuesday’s destruction of the office – which opened in 2018 to foster better cross-border ties – could be a prelude to a “total catastrophe” in North-South relations.
Continue reading...North Korea has blown up a liaison office set up to improve communications with South Korea in a row over defectors’ plans to send anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets across the heavily armed border. North Korea appears to have acted on a warning by Kim Yo-jong, the increasingly influential sister of the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un, to destroy the 'useless' office.
The office opened in September 2018 to facilitate inter-Korean cooperation after successful talks between Kim Jong-un and the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in.
Continue reading...Kim Jong-un’s sister had said office, set up to improve co-operation with South Korea, was ‘useless’
North Korea has blown up a liaison office set up to improve communications with the South, media reports said, in a row over defectors’ plans to send anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets across the heavily armed border.
South Korea’s unification ministry said the North had set off an explosion at the joint liaison office at 2:49 pm, in the North Korean border town of Kaesong. The reports, from the Yonhap news agency, added that military sources had heard an explosion and seen smoke rising from the building.
Continue reading...Pyongyang says since summit two years ago US has appeared friendly but has instead sought regime change
North Korea sees no future benefit in maintaining a relationship between its leader, Kim Jong-Un, and Donald Trump, the country’s state media has said on the two-year anniversary of the pair’s first summit.
US policies prove Washington remains a long-term threat to the North Korean state and its people, foreign minister Ri Son Gwon said in a statement carried by state news agency KCNA.
Continue reading...Pyongyang has said it will make Seoul ‘suffer’ during worsening spat over anti-North Korean leaflets sent from South
North Korea says it will sever hotlines with South Korea as the first step toward shutting down all means of contact with Seoul, state news agency KCNA has reported.
For several days, North Korea has lashed out at South Korea, threatening to close an inter-Korean liaison office and other projects if the South does not stop activists and defectors from sending leaflets and other anti-Pyongyang material into the North.
Continue reading...North Korean leader’s sister says continued air drops by defectors could jeopardise peacekeeping agreement
Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, has warned South Korea to stop propaganda leaflets coming over the border, warning it could wreck an agreement to reduce military tensions.
Her statement came after anti-Pyongyang leaflets were sent across the border earlier this week by a group of North Korean defectors. The leaflets concealed in 500,000 balloons criticised Kim Jong-un’s nuclear threats, according to the Yonhap news agency. Previous messages have also condemned North Korea’s human rights record.
Continue reading...Leader makes first appearance in several weeks to talk about ‘considerably increasing the firepower’ of the military, state media reports
North Korea discussed new policies for increasing its “nuclear war deterrence” during a military meeting presided over by leader Kim Jong-un, state news agency KCNA reported on Sunday.
KCNA did not specify what the nuclear deterrence entailed, but said that “crucial measures” were taken at the meeting “for considerably increasing the firepower strike ability of the artillery pieces of the Korean People’s Army”.
Continue reading...Thae Yong-ho and Ji Seong-ho both said in South Korea that leader was gravely ill or dead
A former senior North Korean diplomat has apologised after saying Kim Jong-un was probably so ill he could not stand, days before he emerged on state media smoking and walking briskly at an event attended by hundreds of officials.
Kim disappeared from state media for three weeks, an unusually long time, leading to concerns over the nuclear-armed state in the event of an unexpected succession.
Continue reading...North and South Korea exchanged gunfire over the demilitarised zone between the two countries. South Korea confirmed it fired towards the North after it discovered four bullets in the wall of a guard post. The shots come after North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un appeared in public for the the first time in 20 days following speculation over his health
Continue reading...Joint chiefs of staff says no one was injured and that South responded with two shots and a warning broadcast
Multiple gunshots have been fired from North Korea towards a South Korean guard post in the demilitarised zone that separates the two countries, military chiefs in the South reported.
South Korea responded by firing two shots towards North Korea, the South’s joint chiefs of staff said on Sunday. No injuries were reported.
Continue reading...Seoul says military responded with shots after North Korean soldiers fired towards the South
North and South Korea exchanged gunfire over the demilitarised zone between the two nations, South Korean military officials have said.
The exchange began when North Korean soldiers shot at a South Korean guard post at 7.41 am local time on Sunday. The South Korean military shot back twice, Seoul’s joint chiefs of staff said in a statement.
Continue reading...The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, has appeared in public for the first time in almost three weeks, according to state media, following speculation that he had been seriously ill following heart surgery. The authenticity of the images, taken at a fertiliser factory opening and published on the website of the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper, could not be immediately verified
Continue reading...North Korean state media has released pictures purportedly showing the leader attending the opening of a fertiliser factory
The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, has appeared in public for the first time in almost three weeks, according to state media, following speculation that he had been seriously ill following heart surgery.
The state news agency KCNA released photographs purportedly showing Kim opening a fertilizer plant in Sunchon, north of the capital Pyongyang.
Continue reading...Despite North Korean leader’s absence from key events, experts in the South say he is most probably at resort town of Wonsan
Kim Jong-un is not ill and could be sheltering from the coronavirus pandemic, according to South Korean and US officials, in the latest possible explanation for the North Korean leader’s recent absence from public life.
North Korea insists it has yet to identify a single case of Covid-19, despite sharing a border with China, where the outbreak is believed to have started.
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